Scared of spiders? Virtual reality could be the answer. And not just because you can kill lots of spiders in World of Warcraft with a great big sword. A psychology professor at the University of New Brunswick in Canada thinks virtual worlds can be used in the treatment of certain phobias.
How? It involves patients wearing special goggles to experience a virtual world in three dimensions, where they can be exposed to the things they fear most, in a safe environment. Professor Darren Piercey explains more:
“We’ll have a giant, cube-like environment where the walls, ceiling and floor are actually projection screens. We’ll create scenarios and virtual worlds for people to experience and use that to expose them to whatever they are afraid of… “The biggest obstacle for psychologists is not being able to use this approach because it’s not exactly practical to have everything people are afraid of in your office. With the virtual world at your fingertips though, the possibilities are endless.”
Piercey has secured funding from several sources to pursue the research, including a $15,000 Harrison McCain Young Scholars Award, $98,000 from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and $20,000 from an innovation research assistant fund. The project will run for a year before any data is published, though.
(via Daily Gleaner)
0 comments